Stephens

Stephens v. Soule

Good Law
1890 Cal. LEXIS 702·83 Cal. 438·23 P. 523
Supreme Court of CaliforniaMarch 14, 1890No. 13313California557 words

Opinion

Lead Opinion

Hayne, J.

— This was a suit for specific performance. The trial court gave judgment for the defendants upon demurrer to the sixth amended complaint, and the plaintiff appeals.

Instead of alleging the ultimate fact that the contract relied upon was made by the owner, the complaint alleges secondary facts tending to show it. It is alleged that the property was the community property of the defendants W. H. Soule and Mary Soule; that W. H. Soule gave written authority to a certain firm of real estate brokers to sell it for the “net price of not less than $45 per acre, if sold without the crop then growing thereon, and at a net price of not less than $47.50 per acre if sold with the crops then growing thereon”; that said brokers had authority to agree upon the other conditions of sale, “ subject to the limitations above stated.” The agents being limited as to price, it is plain that, in order to show that the contract made by them was within their authority, the complaint must show that the sale was for not less than the required price. (Holbrook v. McCarthy, 61 Cal. 216 .) But the complaint did not show this. The allegation is, that the agents *439 “bargained and sold the said land, and the…

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